The Book of Household Management by Mrs. Beeton

walnut, salt to taste, 2 quarts of clear stock No. 105. _Mode_.--Throw the macaroni and butter into boiling water, with a pinch of salt, and simmer for 1/2 an hour. When it is tender, drain and cut it into thin rings or lengths, and drop it into the boiling stock. Stew gently for 15 minutes, and serve grated Parmesan cheese with it. _Time_.--3/4 hour. _Average cost_, 1s. per quart. _Seasonable_ all the year. _Sufficient_ for 8 persons. [Illustration: MACARONI.] MACARONI.--This is the favourite food of Italy, where, especially among the Neapolitans, it may be regarded as the staff of life. "The crowd of London," says Mr. Forsyth, "is a double line in quick motion; it is the crowd of business. The crowd of Naples consists in a general tide rolling up and down, and in the middle of this tide, a hundred eddies of men. You are stopped by a carpenter's bench, you are lost among shoemakers' stalls, and you dash among the _pots of a macaroni stall_." This article of food is nothing more than a thick paste, made of the best wheaten flour, with a small quantity of water. When it has been well worked, it is put into a hollow cylindrical vessel, pierced with holes of the size of tobacco-pipes at the bottom. Through these holes the mass is forced by a powerful screw bearing on a piece of wood made exactly to fit the inside of the cylinder. Whilst issuing from the holes, it is partially baked by a fire placed below the cylinder, and is, at the same time, drawn away and hung over rods placed about the room, in order to dry. In a few days it is fit for use. As it is both wholesome and nutritious, it ought to be much more used by all classes in England than it is. It generally accompanies Parmesan cheese to the tables of the rich, but is also used for thickening soups and making puddings. SOUP MAIGRE (i.e. without Meat).